BRONCOS HOPE TO GET BACK ON TRACK AGAINST LIVINGSTONECrucial Game for FSU's Division Title Hopes

Louis Craft

Feb. 16, 2014

SALISBURY, NC – After a tough loss to Winston-Salem State on Saturday, the Fayetteville State men’s basketball team hopes a quick turnaround works wonders when the Broncos take on Livingstone in a pivotal Southern Division matchup in Livingstone at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.

A win would create either a two-way or three-way tie atop the division standings, depending on the result of Winston-Salem State’s tilt against Shaw. FSU enters play 17-7 overall, 9-4 in the CIAA and 5-2 in the division.

Tyrrel Tate (Raleigh, NC) is averaging 18.1 points per game, the fifth-highest total in the conference. He has scored in double figures in 13 of his last 14 games and has only failed to score at least 10 points on four occasions this season.

Joshua Dawson (Kinston, NC) continues to lead the league in assists at 5.0 per game. He has 120 this season.

Louis Craft (Fayetteville, NC) is the league's second-best blocker this season, swatting away 1.8 shots per game on average.

Livingstone (16-6, 9-4, 6-1) is led by two of the more prolific scorers in the CIAA. Mark Thomas leads the conference in scoring at 20.4 points per game. Against FSU earlier this year, Thomas scored 25 points and went 7-of-14 from the floor.

Jody Hill also went 7-of-14 in that game, scoring 17 of the Blue Bears’ points in a 95-92 win.

Three other Blue Bears scored double-figures in the first meeting. Eric Mayo scored 10, while Cristian Henry contributed 16 and Emarri Bailey had 11 off the bench.

FSU has a big edge in the all-time series, having won 67 of the 92 meetings. However, the Broncos have run into tough luck against Livingstone as of late. Fayetteville State was swept a year ago and has to win on Monday to avoid a similar fate this season.

In the game against Winston-Salem State, nobody outside of Tate was able to get much going for FSU offensively. The Broncos shot just 37.5 percent (18-of-48) from the floor and got outrebounded 42-32.

Tate did score a game-high 26 points, but the only other FSU player in double-figures was Devin Thompson (Fayetteville, NC). Thompson scored 11 points off the bench.

After this one, FSU travels to Raleigh for a matchup against Shaw in its penultimate game of the season. The Broncos will finish the regular season at home against St. Augustine’s on Saturday at 4 p.m.